


Won't Leave Your Side

by TheSecondBatgirl



Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-18
Updated: 2009-12-18
Packaged: 2017-10-04 13:01:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSecondBatgirl/pseuds/TheSecondBatgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Immediately post Justice League: Cry for Justice #5 the new Batman gets a phone call and rushes to an old friend's side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Won't Leave Your Side

Patrolling as Batman was getting easier. It was still strange having Damian at his side, but Dick had his reasons, and he’d made promises that he needed to keep. He didn’t want to end up with another Jason. He hoped that one day Tim would understand his reasoning, but it didn’t stop him from feeling guilty every time Barbara gave him an update on what Tim was doing.

His comm. beeped, and he raised his gauntlet. “Go ahead, Oracle,” he said, biting back the more flirtatious line he would usually have started with. He was Batman now, and he needed to act like that.

“You need to get to the Watchtower,” Barbara’s voice came over the line. She sounded shaken, and Dick wondered what world-ending event could possibly be in progress. “It’s Roy,” she added, and Dick nearly stumbled.

“What happened?” he said, trying to keep calm. Roy couldn’t be dead. He just _could not be_.

“He’s not dead,” Barbara said quickly, apparently realizing how badly she had scared him. “It’s just… he lost his arm. They aren’t going to be able to reattach it.”

“Teleport me there in thirty seconds,” Dick said. “And call the other Titans, would you?”

“Sure thing,” Barbara said. “Oracle out.”

Dick turned to Damian, who was watching him impatiently. “Go back to the cave, Robin,” Dick told him. “Tell Alfred there’s been an emergency. Have him call Huntress.”

“I can do this without you,” Damian said snottily.

“Not tonight,” Dick said firmly. “But being Robin means you need to follow my orders – including this one.”

”Fine,” Damian sulked, and he turned back just as Dick was teleported to the satellite.

*

The League’s headquarters was filled with people as Dick teleported in, and he went straight for Green Arrow.

“Who?” he demanded.

“Captain Marvel, apparently,” Oliver said. “Supergirl and some of the others are looking into it.”

“How is he?” Dick asked.

“What do you care?” Dinah said, and Dick flinched from the words. After everything that had passed between him and Roy over the last few years, he couldn’t really blame her for judging him.

“I care,” was all he could say, but apparently that was enough to convince her, at least for the moment.

“Dr. Mid-Nite is tending to him,” Donna said, as she walked over to give him a hug. He clung to her for a moment, glad that she was here. Kory was there as well, and she met his eyes only for a moment, her ever-present sense of joy missing because of the day’s events.

“Has anyone called the others?” He was sure that if Bruce was here, he would have known the answer to all these questions already.

“Vic is on his way with the rest of the Titans,” Kory reported. “And Mia is watching Lian.”

At the mention of Roy’s daughter, Dick tensed. She was not going to take this well. He couldn’t watch this break her heart.

“She doesn’t know, does she?” he asked.

“Not yet,” Dinah said softly, some of her earlier coldness wearing away. “We’re waiting to find out his condition.”

The group all sat there for a while longer. They were some of the most powerful people in the world, but right now everything just felt hopeless.

*

The familiar sound of the teleporter got their attention, and Dick turned around, expecting to see the other Titans, but instead a very hysterical six-year-old came running over, followed by an apologetic Mia.

”I’m sorry, Ollie, but she wasn’t buying my excuses,” Mia said, while the little girl ran into Dinah’s arms.

The woman clutched the closest thing she had to a granddaughter tight, and Dick vowed that he would have to do better for this little girl. When Dinah finally let go, Dick pulled back his cowl and knelt by Lian’s side. She looked at him, and for a moment Dick honestly thought that she was going to yell at him too. He deserved it, for how many promises he had broken to both her and her father.

Instead, she hugged him tight. “I’m glad you’re here, Uncle Dick,” she said. “Now you can make it okay.”

“I’ll do everything I can,” he said.

“Good,” she said. “Don’t leave us again.”

*

As the hours passed, so did the news of Roy’s condition. More and more people arrived on the satellite. Some went out to search under Green Lantern’s direction, while the Titans stood close, waiting for news of their friend’s condition. Dick knew that most of them would rather be out there searching for the one who did this, but right now they all needed to be there for each other. Vengeance could wait, for now they all needed to be with their family.

Dr. Mid-Nite finally came out. “He’s waking up,” was all he managed to say, before a dozen people pushed by him to go see Roy.

Dick, still carrying Lian, was one of the first ones in. She had slept for a little while they had been waiting to hear, having cried herself out. She woke up when they got into the room, but she held on tight to Dick’s hand as they walked to Roy’s bedside.

Roy was awake, and Dick made his way over, and Lian grabbed her father’s remaining arm.

“Hey, Etai yazi,” Roy mumbled. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you.”

”It’s okay, Daddy,” she said, her voice sounding so much older than she should have to be. “You’re here now, and Uncle Dick promised you wouldn’t get hurt any more.”

At the mention of Dick’s name, Roy looked away from his daughter for a moment, and Dick sat at Roy’s side.

“I’m here,” Dick told him. “We’re all here.”

Roy smiled at him. “You are,” he said. “And you promised my little girl something.”

“Not going to break it this time,” Dick told him.

“Yeah,” Roy said, and Dick almost hoped that the pain in his voice was from his injury, and not from Dick having failed him so many times.

“Don’t worry, we won’t let Short Pants screw it up,” Vic said as he pushed his way to Roy’s bedside. “I’m going to fix you up with a new arm,” he told the archer.

Roy smiled at him. “Thanks.”

“We’re here for you,” Dinah promised. “Always.”


End file.
